


Anyway the wind blows

by My_Coffee_Is_Hot_Chocolate



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cancer, Character Death, Eurydice is a punk, F/M, Foster Care, Orpheus is a ray of sunshine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21895240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Coffee_Is_Hot_Chocolate/pseuds/My_Coffee_Is_Hot_Chocolate
Summary: Obligatory foster care modern au. But there's death and a role reversal.
Relationships: Eurydice/Orpheus (Hadestown)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	Anyway the wind blows

Eurydice sighed. She hated moving foster homes. She hated the foster system, granted she hated her parents more, but she still hated it. She hated stupid Illinois, boiling hot Arizona, cartoonishly backwards Alabama, and every winter they sent her to the frozen wasteland of Maine. She hated it. She hated everything. She'd run away to another state every chance she got. 

And now here she was. Upstate New York, not even the city. Almost 18 years old. She couldn't wait to blow this town and go home to the city.

She stared out at the city. Buffalo, what a stupid name. The train station was nice, she could ride to New York from there. And the school looked better than the last few. But it was still another small town. Spring was coming, swinging wildly between boiling hot and snowing like February. Currently, snow lined the sidewalks. She hated snow. It always made her anxious. Snow had bad memories.

Her headphones -stolen from a Walkman and duct taped to an iPhone jack- blasted ACDC at full volume. She'd put them around her neck, it was mostly to infuriate the woman driving. Eurydice was spiteful, and she was never quiet about it.

Finally, at long last and much suffering through classical piano on loop, the car pulled up to a group home. It was far from her first time in such a place, it was common. No one wanted to foster a troublesome 17 year old. 

She kicked open the car door and slung her bag over her shoulder and the garbage bag of clothes from the trunk. She didn't once look at her social worker as she walked up to the front door. She ignored the woman pointedly.

The door opened to reveal an older black man. He had a kind face, with smile lines, but a glint in his eye that Eurydice knew. The look of a man out to make some trouble. She had a little hope for this place now. But not much. 

She was escorted in and up to her room. She'd be sharing with another girl, which she didn't mind. She flopped onto the surprisingly soft bed and curled up under the covers. It felt like a warm hug. She promptly ignored anything being said to her, she wouldn't be here long anyways, and focused on her first good sleep in months.

She managed to fall and stay asleep for a good 5 hours. When she woke up, a black girl was in the other bed with her nose in a book. Eurydice didn't say a word. She didn't want to know this girl. She was hungry, so she'd get some food and go back to sleep.

She ignored the other girl's greeting and went downstairs. She wandered until she found the kitchen, and she focused on finding some carrots. She adored carrots. She found a whole bag in the fridge, and she was so focused on eating them she didn't notice a twig of a boy staring. 

When she looked up, she wasn't impressed. He was leaner than a starving rail and had no muscles. She could snap him in half without any effort. She went back to ignoring him.

He seemed entranced, because when she looked back up he hadn't moved. She rolled her eyes. Had he never seen a woman before? She continued to eat her carrots and search for more, there was no such thing as too many carrots, when she heard the man from the door speak.

"You want to talk to her?"

Eurydice stopped and considered her options. Run and have just these carrots, or stay, get more carrots, and maybe have to talk to starved rail boy. Carrots won.

She ignored whatever rail boy said until he came closer and spoke. "Come home with me?" His voice was nice, melodic and pretty. But she was both unimpressed and shocked by how forward he was. 

She looked at the man from the door with a 'Is he serious?' look. He nodded. She looked back at the boy. "Who are you?"

"I'm Orpheus. And you are?" He looked like a puppy. He had big, calf brown eyes that she had a hard time saying no to. And he had a big smile. God why was he adorable?

It was against her better judgement that she replied. "I'm Eurydice." She said simply. The way his face lit up you'd think someone told him it was Christmas. 

"Your name is like a melody!" He sang. She groaned. Singers. Big promises, thinking they'll make it big and go on the road. She didn't need another one.

"Oh, a singer. And let me guess, a liar to?" She asked, voice mocking. It flew right over his head. 

"No, never! I'd never lie." He promised. His eyes shone with conviction. She was impressed. Both by how blunt he was and how stubborn. 

She looked at the man again. "Is he always like this?" She didn't know if that'd be a bad thing or not. It was… Cute. In an annoying way. And from the nod she received, he was. 

He kept looking at her with those big brown eyes. God why did she have a soft spot for puppy dog eyes? And why was his instance so cute? But, she couldn't give in. Attachment was b-a-d. 

"And why should I?" She asked. Maybe if he had a good reason, she'd go out with him. Just the once.

He looked back at the man desperately. She was ready to turn back to the fridge when he spoke again. "I'm working on a song. To make the world better."

She looked back. No song could do that. The world was too fucked up. But he took that as encouragement to explain. "When I sing it, the world will right itself!" He sounded so enthusiastic. She found it cute, despite herself.

"And how does that work?" She asked. "And can I hear this song?" She needed proof. Proof was safe. Proof was concrete.

"When I sing it, people will weep and the world will become right again." He repeated. "The world will be better!" 

She had to admit, his enthusiasm was cute. So, despite herself, she nodded. "Coffee. If you really want to."

And with that she dived head first into life with Orpheus. He wanted to do almost everything together. He sat next to her on the bus on her first day in school, probably skipped his classes to be with her, and gave her his apple and carrots at lunch.

School was also where she discovered some people were assholes to this little ray of sunshine. She took care of them quickly, turned out she was more then scary enough for the two of them.

One day, while walking to Algebra III, she noticed a poster for co-ed wrestling. That actually looked fun, so she signed up. Orpheus, of course, was there to cheer her on in the tryouts where she wiped the floor. 

He was so proud of her that he bragged at the dinner table that night. Mr. Hermes, who Eurydice had taken a liking to, gave her a knowing look. He knew she was getting attached to this place. She looked away before she could admit to herself he was right.

One night, while her roommate was out, Orpheus came to visit her and cuddle. He was a massive cuddlebug, and he liked to work on his song while she cuddled him. She'd stopped caring about the song. She just cared about him. He was her's to protect. 

But she couldn't protect him from why he was in a group home in the first place. 

She was waiting with Mr. Hermes in the waiting room of yet another specialist. No one had yet been able to figure out what was wrong. From what she understood, no one had known since he entered the foster system. 

Finally, he came out back into the waiting room. She jumped up to escort him to a seat, like hell he walked alone. She was comforting him, but trying to half pay attention to what the doctor was saying. Her heart shattered when she heard. 

"Stage 4. He has weeks at this point. If we'd caught it sooner…" She tuned out after that. Weeks. He had weeks. This little ray of sunshine who'd made her life so much better in just two seasons had weeks to live. She held him closer, like maybe she could save him by holding him close to her forever. 

She stayed until the funeral, after which she left with just a note and his lyre. Mr. Hermes wished her luck, he knew what she was trying to do. She was a strong girl, if anyone could do it she could.

**Author's Note:**

> ....  
> Hi don't kill me.  
> I got this idea at work.


End file.
